Senator’s letter follows troubling report identifying serious and systemic problems with care for veterans in Roseburg
Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today urged top federal Department of Veterans Affairs officials to act quickly to make improvements identified in a troubling new report that details how problems with staffing levels and electronic records at the Roseburg VA Health Care System are undermining care for veterans.
Wyden’s letter to Dr. Teresa Boyd of the VA Northwest Health Network Office follows a report this week by the VA’s Office of Inspector General (VA OIG).
“First, I recognize the acute challenges in improving staffing levels after the COVID-19 pandemic, but I remain concerned that Roseburg is operating at 48% of its authorized strength during VA OIG’s inspection, and even lower in some of Oregon’s rural areas,” Wyden wrote. “This is unacceptable for the veterans counting on the local and quality care they earned with their service, especially considering the new tools Congress has provided the VA to address this problem.”
Among those new tools Wyden outlined in his letter was the PACT Act that he worked to pass, which provided greater incentives for the VA to retain employees with in-demand skills, or skills in short supply and that serve a critical need. He also cited how he worked to secure authority for the VA to expedite the hiring of college graduates and post-secondary students that let the VA fill vacancies quickly.
“Second, since 2022, I have joined my congressional colleagues in sounding the alarm about the Oracle Cerner electronic health record modernization effort,” Wyden wrote. “While modernization is an important and necessary step, I continue to track reports of widespread challenges stemming from this new system, including challenges surrounding patient safety, staff burnout, budgeting, workflows, professional evaluations, and suicide prevention. I am glad the VA decided in April 2023 to halt additional deployments of this system. The VA OIG’s report continues to underscore the issues that Oracle Cerner must address with the VA before the modernization efforts resume in other locations.”
The senator concluded his letter by stressing his alarm at the report’s findings that Roseburg VA staff failed to complete an evaluation for 57 percent of patients who had a positive suicide risk screen, which is significantly above the OIG’s 10 percent deficiency benchmark.
“The OIG report goes on to document that staff did not notify the suicide prevention team about two patients who reported suicidal behaviors during the evaluation. Concerningly, VA OIG observed that the Roseburg VA Health Care System failed to conduct its required five suicide prevention outreach activities each month,” Wyden wrote. “I recognize that VA leadership attributes these findings to inadequate training and staffing as the reason for Roseburg’s inability to satisfy the stated requirements for reporting and outreach, but these outcomes are unacceptable and ultimately reaffirms the importance of addressing staffing shortages at Roseburg.”
The entire “Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection of the Roseburg VA Health Care System in Oregon” report is here.
The entire letter is here.